2002:0437 - CARROWREAGH, Down

The proposed development site is at the southern end of Carrowreagh townland, to the east of Dundonald village. The assessment was carried out over five days between 7 and 17 October 2002. Three areas were to be assessed. Three trenches were opened in Area 1 and one in Area 2, at the location of a possible church-and-graveyard site marked on the 1948 edition of the OS 6-inch map, and three trenches were opened in Area 3, at a possible new site discovered during the environmental impact assessment fieldwork phase. All topsoil-stripping was carried out using a mechanical excavator fitted with a toothless bucket.

In Area 1, Trench 1 was opened from the top of the drumlin where ‘Site of Chapel’ is marked on the OS map and ran diagonally downslope south-eastward to the field boundary. A small ditch, 2.8m wide and 1.1m deep, was revealed at 0.86m below present ground level. Several possible associated features were also uncovered. A single sherd of pottery (?souterrain ware) and a flint point were retrieved from layers on the southern side of the ditch. No other finds were recovered.

Trench 2 ran from the top of the slope in the north-east corner of the field to meet up with the south-east end of Trench 1. The only feature was a shallow gully, 2m wide and 0.42m deep, filled with a friable clayey soil. Three worked flints were retrieved from its fill. Six badly rolled flints, picked up during topsoil-stripping, were the only other finds recovered.

Trench 3 ran south-westward from the top of the slope in the north-east corner of the field, across Trench 1, to the bottom of the slope. It crossed the site of a possible feature noted on aerial photographs. This proved to be an extensive spread of glacially deposited gravel and sand. In the north-eastern part of the trench, however, several features were revealed. At the end of the trench a large ditch, 3.7m wide and 1.2m deep, was cut into the subsoil. No finds were recovered from its fill. On the brow of the hill a series of spreads and possible fills was revealed. From one of these spreads several sherds of pottery (?Neolithic) were recovered.

In Area 2, Trench 4, the only features uncovered were a possible post-hole, c. 0.25m in diameter, and three possible gullies. The possible post-hole appeared as a roughly circular spread of dark grey, clayey soil within the subsoil. The three possible gullies appeared as linear bands of light grey, sandy soil, which may be only variations in the very mixed glacial drift subsoil. Investigation of a similar feature in Trench 2, however, showed it to be a shallow gully, and these three features may well prove to be the same. No finds were recovered.

In Area 3 a substantial ditch was uncovered at the eastern end of Trench 5, and a similar feature was revealed at the western end. Neither feature was fully bottomed, but both were substantial, at least 3m wide, and were probably opposite sides of a single ditch. A quantity of souterrain ware was recovered from the fill of the ditch at the eastern end of the trench.

Trench 6 was opened at right angles to Trench 5, on its northern side, to discover whether the ditch continued around to the north. A substantial ditch, at least 4m wide and 2m deep, was uncovered in this short trench.

Trench 7 was opened to the south of Trench 5. There was no sign of the large ditch uncovered in Trenches 5 and 6, but a shallower feature was uncovered toward the southern end of the trench.

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